Varsities to get ad hoc teachers

Patna, Aug. 5: The cabinet today gave its nod to the appointment of ad hoc teachers in colleges and universities to restore regular classes.

“The cabinet approved the education department’s proposal to make ad hoc appointments in the universities and their colleges. This arrangement has been made till the posts (of teaching staff) are filled through regular appointments,” cabinet secretariat department’s principal secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters here in a post-cabinet briefing.

According to the decision, a person appointed as an ad hoc teacher would get Rs 1,000 per class or a maximum of Rs 25,000 per month irrespective of the number of classes he or she takes, Mehrotra said.

A source in the education department sources said only National Eligibility Test (NET) qualified persons or those having completed their PhD according to the 2009 Munglekar Committee guidelines would be considered for the ad hoc teaching job in the universities. The temporary appointments of teachers would be made by a selection committee headed by vice-chancellors of the universities.

There are vacancies of around 3,400 teaching posts after rationalisation. The process to make regular appointments through Bihar Public Service Commission is on. There are 412 vacant posts of teachers in Patna University against its sanctioned strength of 850.

In another important decision, the cabinet bestowed one more facility on the members and former members of the state legislature. Now the members of the state legislature — comprising Assembly and Legislative Council — can take four persons with them on official tours in a year by train or air, Mehrotra said, clarifying that the upper limit of the expenditure on the travel (air/train) would remain the same — Rs 2 lakh per annum. Earlier, the members were allowed to take three persons with them.

Similarly, the former members can also take three persons with them during air/train travel in a year but the expenditure ceiling for them would be Rs 1 lakh per annum. Earlier, the former members were allowed to take two persons with them in flight or train, Mehrotra said.

The cabinet also approved the law department’s proposal to nominate Justice V.N. Sinha as the executive chairman of Bihar State Legal Service Authority. It sanctioned Rs 44.92 crore for the construction of a Polytechnic College in Munger district.